Sutton Compact Group among organisations recognised in Compact Awards

Simon Blake, chair of Compact Voice, says the winners show how partnership working can make a difference

Simon Blake

The London Borough of Sutton’s Compact Group was among the organisations recognised at this year’s Compact Awards.

The annual ceremony, held in London last night, was staged by Compact Voice, the organisation set up to represent the voluntary sector on the Compact, the agreement that sets out how government and voluntary and community sector organisations should behave towards each other.

The ceremony formed part of this week’s Compact Week, which is this year marking 15 years of the Compact.

Sutton Compact Group, which received the Local Compact Partnership award, was one of seven winners on the night.

A spokeswoman for Compact Voice said: "All of the judges were confident that they would be working in a positive environment if they were a chief executive of a charity in Sutton. The work of the Sutton Compact Group focuses on practical support to enable effective partnership working – they have done excellent work in areas such as facilitating the transition to new ways of working and providing leadership on issues such as social value."

Nick Hurd, the Minister for Civil Society, and Simon Blake, chair of Compact Voice, hosted the ceremony in Westminster.

Blake said: "The winners demonstrate how partnerships really do make a massive difference. This year’s nominations were the strongest in my time of judging the Compact Awards and the winners reflect the importance of partnership working in the new policy and commissioning context."

The judging panel comprised Blake, Neil Cleeveley, director of policy and communications at the local infrastructure body Navca, Sarah Vibert, head of development and policy at the Epilepsy Society, Kirsty LeGrice, of the sector support team at the Office for Civil Society, and Amanda Ariss, chief executive of the Equality and Diversity Forum.

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